I am curious- does the internet price only apply to doing the transaction online? I’ve seen internet pricing “on sale” several thousand dollars.

We just bought a car at the end of July. A lot of times the internet price included discount we didn't qualify for such as military, recent college grad, lease loyalty, conquest cash, Costco, etc. Sometimes those were shown in an information window and other times I had to contact the dealer and ask. One dealership refused to answer questions about price over email and insisted they would only do so in person.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never negotiate in a dealership.

Visit a dealership too see cars and test drive, then walk out and email your offer from home.

Email offers from multiple dealers.

Any reputable dealer will be happy to negotiate a sale via email.

Commit: If at any moment the number goes above the emailed agreed price, walk out and ghost that dealership.

+1. I agree with this approach.


I will add that I actually like dealing in person. The key is to know your OTD price first. It needs to be reasonable and you need to be able to explain how you calculated it. Present your OTD offer, hold fast and don’t budge. Walk out if they say no. Walking out is the biggest strength you have.

That sounds fine and good until you run into dishonest tactics. Presented OTD price right away and after some back and forth the salesperson said it would likely be fine. Then he went to the office with the manager and came back with a MUCH higher price and then they would not negotiate down! I did walk out, but what a huge waste of time.

I agree with all this.

Yeah, annoying and waste of time for sure but I find the experience a little entertaining. I’m weird though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Never negotiate in a dealership.

Visit a dealership too see cars and test drive, then walk out and email your offer from home.

Email offers from multiple dealers.

Any reputable dealer will be happy to negotiate a sale via email.

Commit: If at any moment the number goes above the emailed agreed price, walk out and ghost that dealership.

+1. I agree with this approach.


I will add that I actually like dealing in person. The key is to know your OTD price first. It needs to be reasonable and you need to be able to explain how you calculated it. Present your OTD offer, hold fast and don’t budge. Walk out if they say no. Walking out is the biggest strength you have.

That sounds fine and good until you run into dishonest tactics. Presented OTD price right away and after some back and forth the salesperson said it would likely be fine. Then he went to the office with the manager and came back with a MUCH higher price and then they would not negotiate down! I did walk out, but what a huge waste of time.

Anonymous wrote:Never negotiate in a dealership.

Visit a dealership too see cars and test drive, then walk out and email your offer from home.

Email offers from multiple dealers.

Any reputable dealer will be happy to negotiate a sale via email.

Commit: If at any moment the number goes above the emailed agreed price, walk out and ghost that dealership.

+1. I agree with this approach.


I will add that I actually like dealing in person. The key is to know your OTD price first. It needs to be reasonable and you need to be able to explain how you calculated it. Present your OTD offer, hold fast and don’t budge. Walk out if they say no. Walking out is the biggest strength you have.

Anonymous wrote:Never negotiate in a dealership.

Visit a dealership too see cars and test drive, then walk out and email your offer from home.

Email offers from multiple dealers.

Any reputable dealer will be happy to negotiate a sale via email.

Commit: If at any moment the number goes above the emailed agreed price, walk out and ghost that dealership.

What type of cars are you looking for though? I found luxury dealerships are much less sleazy. Other ones do volume and really don't care to negotiate, are willing to lose a sale if they can fleece someone else (and they will find someone else!)

Never negotiate in a dealership.

Visit a dealership too see cars and test drive, then walk out and email your offer from home.

Email offers from multiple dealers.

Any reputable dealer will be happy to negotiate a sale via email.

Commit: If at any moment the number goes above the emailed agreed price, walk out and ghost that dealership.

Final sale price probably includes taxes, tags and fees.

Dealership advertised a 22k internet price. Sales guy was nice enough. We negotiate for a while, get to 23k with him, with taxes, fees, registration. Manager comes back and says 33k is the price of the car, best I can do is 29k. It was the most ridiculous experience, like a stupid "good cop/bad cop" movie. He kept upping the price and he would not come down. Most of this was imaginary fees they put on top (not registration, tax or even a dealer fee). It was a complete waste of 2 hours. I am not sure how it ever works bringing people in with a fake price and then trying to sell the car for over 10k more AFTER someone negotiates a fine amount you are willing to pay.

Haggle! We just bought and I dealt with a dozen dealers and none of them refused to budge on price. Some budged a lot more than others but there are deals to be had. They will always try to get the most out of you so if you don’t ask, they’ll assume you’re willing to pay more. Even internet prices are negotiable.

Unless the dealer website specifically says “no haggle”, assume you can haggle. In my limited search I only know of two no haggle dealers, auto nation and Fitzgerald. I’m not including Tesla’s which are no haggle.

The internet price is just another way of saying “on sale” which is bs. Dealers can add stuff to that price. What you should focus on is “Out the door” (OTD) price which is everything. It means “this is the amount I will write you a check for” in return for this car. It includes dealer fee, tax, title and tags…everything.

I agree with PP. The internet price can be a firm no haggle price, to which they would add a dealer fee and your tax/tag costs to reach the “out the door price.” Or it could be something that they negotiate on. Or, worse case, it could be a scam price on a vehicle no longer available, designed to get you to come in. I would do some research on dealer reviews to see what others say on their pricing. You should also research on your DMV website what your taxes and tags will cost on the vehicle you’re considering. Then research what pricing others are getting - whether it’s at, below or (generally now just for rare high demand models) above MSPR. Then calculate what a reasonable out the door price would be for the vehicle and see what dealers come within that price range.

Always haggle over something. Often dealers will get points (% of loan amount) to do dealer financing. They are prepayable so can sometimes negotiate that you'll borrow $x and then make one payment and prepay (if you're a cash buyer of course.)

Dealer-installed accessories are also fair game. Those weathertec mats are always free, for example.

I like finding the car I want, email 4 dealers with the VIN and whatever extras I want and say make a price assuming (i) no fiancing or (ii) whatever dealer incentivized financing. I also will build in an "all 10s" score into the sales sheet so they get that $250 check from the manufacturer (again YMMV on this one.)

Anonymous wrote:What does that mean exactly? As in a car is listed on a dealership at 21k "Internet price", but also 24k "final sale price".

It depends on the dealer but in my experience the "Internet" price is the "no haggle" price they are willing to sell the car for. But that doesn't include fees and taxes. The "final sale price" probably includes those. You obviously can't do anything about the taxes and the fees are also sometimes non-negotiable. However, I have found that it is possible to haggle the "no haggle" price. But generally most of your negotiating will be over your trade-in's value if you have one and financing.

What does that mean exactly? As in a car is listed on a dealership at 21k "Internet price", but also 24k "final sale price".